Taft Union High School students will show what they’ve learned when they take the state-mandated STAR (Standardized Testing And Reporting) test over the next two weeks.

Testing began Wednesday and Thursday with sophomores taking the science tests and juniors taking the social science tests, but testing did not affect the school schedule.

Next week, April 15-19, school will begin at the regular time, 7:45, but get out earlier as students take the English and mathematics portions of the test. Freshmen, sophomores and juniors will take the English tests Monday and Tuesday and the math portion on Wednesday and Thursday, all in their Period 1 classes. School will get out at 12:55 those days, with busses running 10 minutes later and sports practices running immediately after school lets out.

Friday, April 19, will be a makeup day with school getting out at 2:10.

Seniors are scheduled to go to Magic Mountain on Wednesday, April 17.

The third week, April 22-26, will be a regular bell schedule, 7:45-2:55, and students will take science and social science tests.

The high school is providing free breakfast during STAR testing.

Superintendent Blanca Cavazos said students should be well rested for the tests. Test results are an important measure of student progress. Results are used to place students in the correct class and to measure the progress of Taft High against others in the state. Students should do well on these tests as a matter of personal, school and community pride, she said.